Vitaly Sayenko15:42, 19.10.23

The head of the Foreign Ministry noted that the possibility of Ukraine receiving American long-range missiles will now develop dynamically.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba emphasizes that in the future Ukraine will receive more long-range ATACMS missiles , including those with an increased range of hitting enemy targets. The Foreign Minister said this in an interview on the air of the “Breakfast with 1+1” program.

In particular, the minister was asked whether the delivery of the first ATACMS missiles means that Ukraine will receive them on a permanent basis and in larger quantities.

“It means. This is a direct result of the agreement between President Zelenskyi and President Biden, which was reached in Washington during their personal meeting at the end of September,” Kuleba said.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that less than a month has passed and concrete results are already being observed.

“If you read between the lines of the president’s speech after the meeting with Biden, you could understand from it that a very important decision was made, and only this could be done from important decisions. Therefore, we thank the United States for fulfilling the agreements and for strengthening our firepower.” Kuleba said.

At the same time, the minister noted that it does not matter what year the ATACMS missiles are transferred to Ukraine.

“If you knew what kind of weapon is fired at the occupier and destroys it quite effectively, and in what years it was manufactured, then you would not think so critically about the year 1996,” Kuleba said, responding to the host’s statement that the missiles of 1996 year of manufacture may be quite old.

The head of the Foreign Ministry noted that the ATACMS missiles are handed over to the skillful hands of the Ukrainian missile forces and gunners.

“It’s not about a year here. The main thing for us is to shoot and kill the enemy,” Kuleba clarified.

In addition, he commented on the range of damage to enemy objects of that modification of ATACMS missiles, which were transferred to Ukraine. We are talking about impressions of objects up to 165 km, not up to 300 km.

“With all partners, all conversations about weapons began with “no”. Ukraine turned all these “no” into “yes”, and we have something to fight and beat the enemy. Our soldier knows that he has this weapon. Therefore, the range, details, years – everything will develop dynamically. The main thing is that we have unlocked this position. And we already have all the types of weapons that we wanted at our disposal. Now it will be about expanding the number, range, modifications and everything else,” said Kuleba .

Transfer of ATACMS to Ukraine – details

Earlier it became known that the USA secretly transferred long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. In the States, they were worried that the Russians would remove their equipment and weapons beyond the range of the missiles before Ukraine received them. Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially confirmed that Ukraine had received and deployed long-range ATACMS missiles.

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has changed his position on sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, writes NYT. It is noted that for the better part of 18 months, the American leader did not agree to transfer long-range missiles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order not to cross one of the “red lines” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The publication writes that Biden had to seriously consider this scenario due to the nuclear threats of the Russian Federation.

(C)UNIAN 2023